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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  September 28, 2012 10:00am-12:00pm PDT

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mars rover show water flowed on the red planet in a big way. plus, a group of runners hit the road to fight the obesity statistics among black women. we road along with them and decided to take a look. let's get right to it. mitt romney raising cash and rallying his supporters for 39 days to go until the presidential election. both romney and mitt romney speaking at fundraisers today. romney held one earlier in philadelphia. the president has one later in washington. at a campaign rally last hour at a military acted any many pennsylvania romney hammered away at the president over the economy. >> i have to tell you that i don't know how a single person who goes to this institution could consider voting for the incumbent for president. i say that for this reason. if they want to go in the military, why, he is planning on cutting our military by about $1 trillion over the next decade. if they want to go on to either get a job directly or go on to a four-year college and come out with a gee, you know that 50% of
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kids coming out of college today can't find a job or a college level job. on both fronts, this president's policies have not worked for the young people of america. >> their first debate happens on wednesday. the romney team is downplaying expectations. romney advisor beth myers distributes this memo explaining why the president is probably going to do better. she says that president obama is one of the most talented political communicateors in modern history. this will be his eighth one-on-one presidential debate and romney's first. the president wil usehis ample rhetoricts attack romney. obama won the debates against john mccain if 2008 by double digits. it is not just the romney team that is trying to lower expectations. check out what obama's senior campaign advisor said recently. >> look, mitt romney, i think, has an advantage because he has been through 20 of these debates in the primaries over the last year. he even bragged that he was declared the winner in 16 of
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those debates. so i think in that sense having been through this much more recently than president obama, i think he starts with an advantage. >> want to bring in our jim accosta, who is covering the romney campaign in wayne, indiana. i'm tired of the false flattery really. do people really buy this? >> reporter: no, i don't think buys it, suzanne, but, you know, campaign aides are going to do that, and th'regoin to keep doing it as long as we have elections in this is country. he compared romney to cy young. they hand it out to the best pitcher in baseball. there's a washington national that might win that this time around. geogonzalez. you know, it's one of those comments where you are sort of like, come on, guys. give me a break. >> really. >> they are going to do that because -- they are going to do it because these debates are so high stakes. i think david georgean tweeted
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this could be a make or break debate for mitt romney. obviously it's in the romney campaign's interest to lower expectations somewhat. mitt romney wrapped up his event in valley forge, pennsylvania. it's fitting that romney came here. his campaign has sort of been battered and bruised lately. republicans can take hart that -- he did sort of strike some military themes here at valley forge, talking about mitt romney, of course. he is trying to make the case that the best defense is a better economy tying national security to the economy, but one very interesting thing that happened here, suzanne, mitt romney at the very end of this speech here said he is going to win pennsylvania. he said that earlier. he said it again he is going to pennsylvani the polls -- or latest cnn poll of polls shows mitt romney down by ten points here. it would be a very tough uphill climb for h to win tstate.
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>> right. >> i think it's in the romney campaign's interest to expand the map, and i think that's what they're trying to do. >> john mccain didn't win pennsylvania the last go round either. ditheyhange in any significant way when they look at the demographics and they get some sort of optimism or confidence from that? >> well, you know, pat toomey, the pennsylvania senate repuan annnced m romney. he was able to wi t state, and even though he had some credentials, he was ahead of the ub forroh at one time, and so this is a state that haseen trendiittlng a le more republican in recent years. they have a republican governor now replacing the outgoing democratic governor ed rendell, and i th r tmney campaig senses an opportunity here, but haveo advertisi dollars in. you have to back up that talk of edicti a w in pennsylvania hat the romney so far campaign has done that. i asked ayaide, well, do you have any plans to do that he said that's for us to know
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and for the obama campaign to worry about. perhaps setting some expectations here in pennsylvania as well, suzanne. >> all right. thank you very much. i want to you stick around. just get started with politics at the half hour. we'ring to seeheate numbs on the ecomy, how it's playing out for both candidates. how high the stakes are f loo wednesday night's debate. owerteam, of course, is trying pectations. and we're going to tell you what your favorite brand of beer says about your politics. all that andre coming up in about 30 minutes or so. president obama, mitt romney face-to-face as american voters weighing their c the first presidential debate wednesday night. yo got to watch that live 7:00 eastern. cnn an cnn.com. the man believed to be behind the fictitious anti-islam film that set off a wave o protests in the muslim world parently has a long list of fake names, and that is what is keepinnikoula bassely nikoula in jail today. he is facing b in californi
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there are at l 17 phony names that he used. couldn't even decide which name elyesterday's bail earih. well she's got some information. of course, let's be clear here. he is being taken into custody. it doesn't have anything necessarily to do with the film, is that right? >> technically. that's the important word here, suzanne. technically he is not. he is being taken in for violations of his federal probation. his probation violations, essentially. when he was arrested and detained for a year for that 2010 bank fraud conviction. basically the terms of his probation were you can't use any fictitious names. no false identities. well, the prosecution says that they -- auz mentioned, they have some 17 names that he has been working under,nd al he i't supposed to use the computer without notificaon o the court court, and certainly if it's proven that he is connected to this internet se, he probably used the computer leasto
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upload it to youtube. he has been held ordered without he i in a federal lockup this morning today here in los anges, and something indquite it you mentionedhat cour hearing, suzanne. when the judge said, so, what is your name. the judge said what did you say? and he said mark bassely. even in that hearing he wasn't sure what name he wanted to use. >> he was confed. 17 names. he was confused. his attorney says that he believes that his safety could be at risk. why? >> the reason why is that according to his attorney, you think about all of this anger that's been inflamed around the world because of this film and what his attorney says is in the federal prison. we're looking at a population with a significantly large muslim background, and so that's why he says that he believes that putting his client in that federal lockup could pose a risk for his own safety, but the prosecution is saying he is just
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going to be kept separate from the general population, and the judge eventually siding with the prosecution. >> thank you. here's what we're working on for this hour. an exciting new find on mars. the martian roefer finds proof that water once flowed in a big way on the red planet. and just 38 days to go until the election. national polls show president obama ahead by at least five points. i'll talk to some great minds about what needs to happen in the next seven weeks for both the president and the man who wants his job. and a startling statistic. four out of five black women in america are either overweight or obese. but this group is bucking the trend. they're called black girls run. >> it's about defeating the statistics that are saying that, you know what, we're dying because of obesity and diabetes and heart disease.
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and get outstanding deals with the travecity fall hot you can ve up 40% select hotels. ook ot and save up to 4. hurry, offer ends soon. book now at travelocity. high-tech just keeps blowing our pindz with what is actually finding there. i want you are to check out these brand new pictures from mars. see the jagged rock with the circle around in t? scientists say you are looking at evidence that rivers and streams once flowed across the surface of mars. xpert on ear weather
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an weath oo. i think. what does this mean >> it me t the rocks or stonesat we in this will be now known as a river bedrolled and be round. can't get round s medicals you have some type of io break and be hard on the .endsd ke a cube. these save rolled over time and the rolling has round them off and tha now we know as proof that there was water on mars. annot -- this is the ory. we've always pretty much known the was at some point in time wate t this much. not this much there goes the rover walking around. not this much. want to takeyou to the proof, but the proof is in the pictures really. this is earth, and this is what happens when you get rocks rolling down a hill in an ancient stream bed. the rocks are round. that's earth. on this side here's mars. they look exactly the same. they are rounded off at the corners. they are not just jagged rocks.
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that means water pushed the rocks down the river, down the hill and rolled them away. they think -- now, okay. wind could have done this, but these rocks are too big. these could not have been blown by the wind. this is -- look, they even found people on mars. no, i'm kidding. >> we were waiting for the martians. we're here. >> this is chile. this is down in the desert where we know there has been water in the past, but right now it's just completely dried up. that's what the rocks look like. if you take a look, the rocks look exactly the same on mars. rolled down hill, made round, so, therefore, part of a bottom of a stream bed. there may even be gold in some of these hills. >> do we think there could be plants and animals that are green as well? >> it takes more than just water to get green. r. you need oxygen and carbon dioxide, and the atmosphere on mars is only like 1/100th of what the earth's atmosphere is, so maybe green, maybe just something different than what we were used to. you know, this could have
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been -- this water could be three billion years gone, so if there are trees there, they would be completely dust in the wind by now. this is going to take some time before we find something that may have been living, i think. >> all right. thanks, chad. >> you're welcome. >> the statistics are alarming. dpour out of every five black women in america are either overweight or obese. i got a chance to run with the ladies from black girls run. see how much weight they've lost and the confidence that they've gained. ♪ to look at [ sighs ] ♪ oh, he's shaggy ♪ and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. available with advanced keyless technology. control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ that dirty, old egg-suckin' dog ♪ wthe future of our medicare andr electiosocial security. for... man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan...
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obesity is a big problem in this country. it's hitting african-american women especially hard. these are alarming statistics. four out of five black women are considered overweight or obese. i want to bring in sanjay gupta to talk about this and the context of these figures here. when i heard this 80%, rail didn't believe it. i didn't think that it could be that high or was that high. is it overstated? is it really got tony that point? >> well, you know, the centers for disease control, they look at data over, you know, periods of time, over several years, and you have to keep in mind the context of where we are in this country overall. i mean, right now if you take all comers, adults, three out of five, 60% are either overweight or obese. in the african-american population they've been hilt harder, and if you look at women
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specifically, african-american women, they're about 70% more likely to be overweight or obese as compared to, you know, white or hispanic women. it's pretty significant. >> why do we see this disparity? is it about diet? is it about exercise? what do we attribute to this to? >> it's a lot of things that we have talked about. certainly with regard to health care overall. this is important. you know, just access to health care. diet is very important because of access to healthy foods, and it's remarkable. you have these things that are called food deserts in many places around the country where you simply cannot buy healthy foods, and we've talked about this for so long, suzanne. what's quite striking to me is now we're seeing the reprecussions of this. we know that people, for example, who don't have access to those sorts of things are more likely to have significant problems. take a look there. these are shocking. two times more likely to die from heart disease or stroke. more likely to die -- develop and die from cancer. it's also things like exercise. being able to have places where you can exercise and getting the advice on how to do these
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things. how to eat right and per size. here's the good news in all of this. if there is some good news. it's that what you are doing when what i try to do as well is educate people making a difference. we now have data on that specifically saying just how much of an impact does it make? take a look at this. spend a minute looking at the full screen. if people are provided exercise advice, look how the numbers change among the african-american. 54.7. lower than the white population. 57.8%. simply by getting some of the education on exercise, nutrition. you've asked about that in the past. we've talked about it. again, the number is lower. we know as well that that education makes a huge difference. >> i want to bring in as well a group of amazing women that i met. >> we're going to talk about this. >> this is my favorite segment. i met a group of enthusiastic women, and they are tackling the obesity problem. they are basically putting on their running shoes. they are putting it on the pavement. this is an organization that's called black girls run. we ran with them.
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>> reporter: whether you lead the pack or come in dead last, everyone is celebrated. >> it really is about friendship, sisterhood. we're not going to leave any woman behind, and so we have this cheer tunnel, and it's so incredible. the energy is amazing. >> they wait for me at the end, and i was, like, wait for me at the end? you mean they would actually be there, and so i tried it, and went out and they were there clapping for me, applauding for me, and i was, like, this is really good. >> reporter: this is black girls run. women taking charge of their own health. >> had gotten up to 241 pounds, and the biggest i had ever been, and my kids were in college. i had just got them into college. it was time for me to concentrate on myself. >> i am a stage four colon cancer survivor, and it was a way for me to incorporate some additional exercise in my routine after i got finished through chemo.
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it's about me just showing cancer you can't kick my butt. i'm going to kick your butt. >> reporter: you are clearly kicking some butt here. >> black girls run. that's simple. then on the back we've got preserve the sexy, and when you think about the word sexy, it really is about confidence, and that's the key thing that us have gained and so many women through their commitment. >> reporter: this is just a practice run. 85 women have come out to participate. the big event is the national 10k in atlanta. 3,300 women gathered from across the country all here. it is not even 7:00 in the morning. it is still dark. they are out here to show that black girls run. >> reporter: ashley hicks started the group with a friend three years ago. what started as a blog has now grown into a movement. >> you know, we created these groups on facebook, and they're running all over the country. i never really get to see them in person, so this is like, wow. it's real. it's not about just the weight. it's about the quality of life. it's about defeating the
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statistics that are saying that, you know what, we're dying because of obesity and diabetes and heart disease and all these other things, and really just taking that back. >> my personal story, i always talk about my mom who was 49 years old when she had a stroke. she was 54 years old when she died from a heart attack, and my family is just plagued with heart disease and hyper tension. i'm just trying to beat the odds with that. >> reporter: running for your mom? >> running for my mom. >> joining us janelle saunter who lost more than 80 pounds running with black girls run. adrian white who leads a group of runners every tuesday night. got a good to see you again. that was a tough race. that 10k, that was no joke. you saw me sweating there a little bit. i'm going to start off with you, janelle, because we've talked a lot about this, and you lost more than 80 pounds. it's really extraordinary. one of the things that a lot of people said was that they put themselves last. everybody else comes first.
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you know, you really have to change your mindset. how do you do that? >> once i got my children into college, it was time for mo me to focus on me, and getting out, running, and just concentrating on what i eat and it was just so important to me to just get it together. i have gin them all i could give, and i wanted to be around for their children, and so i wanted to take back my life. >> adrian, you talked a lot about confidence. i mean, so many people when we were together and they said i never thought i would be that person that i could be that person who was out there, how have you seen people change? >> janelle is an excellent example of a woman who has transformed. i mean, when i met her, she had 80 more pounds on her, and now, i mean, she's phenomenal, and another woman i met, she on her first run, she said, hi, my name is kim, and now when i see her, she's, like, hello, my name is kim. you can't stop her. she's phenomenal. i've seen that in so many women. >> some of the wings we talked
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about too, and i don't even think people realize there are issues to exercise, and we talked about our hair, sweating out of your hair. there all kindhings that you can give tips to people to say, look, you know what, it's important to be out there, and the outfits too. what does that mean? >> well, the outfits kind of unify us across the nation so, it doesn't matter where we are. like, you know, several of my girlfriends are traveling to do half marathons, and if they wear the shirt, they'll see another woman from a totally different an stant connection. andey >> finally, one of the things it's black girls run, but when i was out there, i saw some men out there. i saw white women. i saw a lot of people who were out there. >> it's unity together, and that's the biggest thing i enjoy about black girls run. it brings people that have something in common together, and it's being healthy, and so it's turned into a wonderful outl for me. a r ll, i enjoyed it trendously. i' going to hit the trail every
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tuesday. ery tuesday you are out there >> yeah. >> alright. >> i would love to see you. >> appreciate. >> thank yo reoing to go to a quk break after this. members of coness.ou, mr., ior geico...as most of you know years of oit.government employees insurance company, ...i propose savingseryone i'm talking hundreds here... and furthermore.. newcaster: breaking news. the gecko is demanding free pudding. and political parties that are actual parties! with cake! and presents! ah, that was good. too bad nobody could hear me. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one.
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getting down to crunch time. of course, the presidential race. we are revving it up to bring you the latest in political news. look at the calendar. the licks just 39 days away, but early voting already underway in several states, including battleground state of iowa. we're just five days from the first presidential debate of the campaign. president obama, mitt romney meeting face-to-face next wednesday. you can see it here live on cnn. of course. want to also bring in president obama and benjamin netanyahu, we are learning, just have wrapped up a conversation on the phone. cnn just got a photo of the president on the phone in the oval office. dan lothian is joining us from the white house with details. what do we know about this call, dan? >> reporter: well, as you
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pointed out, the white house releasing that photo of that phone call to the president making that phone call to prime minister benjamin netanyahu. senior administration official telling me that that phone call lasted a little bit more than 20 minutes. a read-out was provided to us a short read-out of what the two leaders discussed. this bhous saying that the president reaffirmed his and our country's unshakeable commitment to israel's security. went on to say that they discussed a number of -- a rake of security issues, and that they also came to some agreement of this gold, this gold of preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ending the leatement by saying that both ers agreed to continue their consultations on this issue. as you know, suzanne, the white house has been criticized for the president not sitting down and meeting with benjamin netanyahu face-to-face while they were in new york. they were not there at the same time, and the white house saying that it was a scheduling issue, but others brought up the point that there could have been a meeting here at the white house. that did not happen. the white house had been pushing
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back saying that the two leaders are always talking to each other, constantly in communication trying to brush aside that there was any issue here that they did not sit down face-to-face, suzanne. >> dan, what was the reaction, the response, to netanyahu's presentation when he actually had that drawing much the -- almost looked like a cartoon of the bomb in the red line? >> reporter: that's right essentially sort of laying out his timeline as to what he believes that iran would be able to have -- be at a stage of having a nuclear weapon. the whougs not reacting. in fact, i did reach out to a senior administration official to get direct reaction to that. not reacting at all. as you know, what they have said sort of generally is that the united states, and the president in particular, shares that same goal as benjamin netanyahu does of preventing iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and so that's sort of the official word coming from the white house to the remarks made by the prime minister yesterday. >> all right. dan lothian, thanks, dan. good to see you, as always.
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just a handful of swing states could decide who is going to win the presidential race. polls showing president obama with alight edge in several of hers. ul, first of alle've go poll numbers, and it looks like somethese swing states are very much still in play. some not so much. what do we know? >> you know, let's not talk about ohio and florida because we've talked about them so much in the last couple of days. let's talk about the other swing states. a brand new poll out in virginia has the president up by just two points. take a look at that. we factored into a cnn poll of polls. this averages all the most recent polls in virginia. we have it at 49% for obama. 49% for romney. so it's a pretty close call -- close contest in virginia. 13 electoral votes at stake there. of course, the president won virginia four years ago. the first democrat to do that since 1964. how about new hampshire? mern research group out. take a look at this. 50% for the president. 45% for mitt romney. this is among likely voters.
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let's move on to north carolina last night. nbc maris and wall street journal coming out with a poll. it was traditionally republican, but the president won four years ago. very close contest there. 48% for the president. 46% for mitt romney. finally, go to nevada. a new poll out there yesterday. we average out into our cnm poll of polls. three polls out in nevada over the last two weeks. again, a very close contest. 49% for the president. 46% for mitt romney of likely voters. we always say this. polls are a snap shot of how people feel right now. we have 39 days until the election. the needle could definitely move. >> absolutely. talk about the debates coming up. you have five days for the first debate. of course, they're going to talk about domestic policy here. you knowing know, paul, every time -- i mean, they do this, this lowering expectation game here, this false flattery of the other guy. oh, is he going to do better than i'm going to do. do they really think that's going to be adequate here? i mean, i imagine there's a lot of really serious debate going
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on behind the scenes. >> a lot of serious debate prep, and both candidates will be doing that this weekend. both campaigns and the candidates themselves are trying to lower expectations. take a listen to mitt romney on the campaign trail the last few days. >> all right, paul, thanks. >> he is president of the united states. he is a very effective speaker. >> now, he is a very eloquent speaker, and so i'm sure in the debates, as last time in his debates with senator mccain, he will be very eloquent. >> there you go, sue ann. lowering the bar. that's what they're trying to do. lowering the bar. do americans really pay attention to this? i don't know. both campaigns are trying to lower the bar. the obama campaign saying, guess what, mitt romney debated 20 times during the primaries. he is going to be the better of the two. we'll see who wins when the debates actually happen. >> all right. we'll be watching. thanks, paul. the economy, abortion, social security all taking center stage this week in the race for the white house. we're going to debate the issues with the strategist. up next. had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved.
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39 days and counting until the presidential election. just five days until the first presidential debate. president obama, mitt romney meeting face-to-face next wednesday to focus, of course, on domestic issues and it puts the economy front and center. want to bring in my favorite strategist, republican strategist anna and democratic strategist maria. both cnn contributeors. good to see you. the party continues. >> always. >> yeah, we're talking about the economy here, and, of course, we've seen mitt romney in the last couple of days really try to put the focus back on the economy, and here's how he reacted. here's what he said after you had the domestic -- the gross domestic product, the gdp, actually revised down. >> look at the numbers that just came out and the growth of our economy. 1.3% versus russia at 4%. china at 7% to 8%. we're at 1.3%. this is unacceptable. it is not working. >> i want to bring in anna. i want you to tackle this one
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first here because he is talking about how the growth has not really been what is expected, but then we've got some good economic numbers that we're working with as well, some of the numbers that actually showed that he created jobs during his time in office. how does that weigh? how do you balance those two? >> well, you know, i think mitt romney is right in what he is saying. when you take a look at even what some of president obama's economic advisors have said in the past, they've warned that a gdp of lower than 2% -- of lower than 2 was not going to be effective and would mean very bad news. coupled with things that could be happening in europe and we've been seeing the video of what's been happening in europe and what's going on in places like spain that's very concerning. now, that being said, suzanne, i just don't think mitt romney is cutting through. he is not somehow making the sale. he is not delivering the message strong enough. i would like to see him do a
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very presidential looking address on the economy on his plan. go large as he is being prompted to do by so many other republicans. you know, give us big, bold ideas and solutions. i don't think this message is cutting through in these very similar looking campaign event that is are going on day after day. >> maria, it looks like anna is helping you out a little bit here. i mean, you've got the polls that are -- >> she's a smart woman. >> they seem to be moving in president obama's column. some of the very important swing states. is there a risk here now of this campaign being a little bit overconfident, a little cocky here just before the first presidential debate? >> i'm not so concerned about the campaign being cocky because they understand in order to continue on this trajectory to be able to get the president re-elected, they have to act like they are running five to
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ten points behind, and that's exactly what they're doing. i am a little worried about other democrats out there and our base who are seeing these polls which i happen to believe are also closer than what we are seeing, and they become then complacent because what we need now more than ever is for all democrats to come out and, frankly, all independents who are not happy and, frankly, agree with anna that mitt romney's economic message is not getting through and, frankly, the one that if it is getting through, americans aren't buying it. we need to get them to come out and vote. i think that's the danger as opposed to the campaign being complace ebt. >> one of the things that's happening today, it's interesting really. i mean, you have president obama on the phone with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. you have mitt romney who is also going to be on the phone with him as well because they have a personal relationship that dates become to the 1970s or so. do you think that's appropriate to have the presidential candidate making these phone calls to world leaders? i mean, it really looks like is he trying to upstage the president at this point. >> well, you know, we're talking
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about netanyahu. we're talking about israel. we're talking about an issue that is front and center right now, and also it's an issue that's very mrib politically expedient right now. as you know, suzanne, i live in florida, and we are actually seeing ads on the air right now that feature netanyahu, and some of netanyahu's speeches. i think that what when you sthee back and forth, this telanovella that's playing out between bebe netanyahu and president obama of, you know, he snubbed me, no, it wasn't a snub, well arks i'm nowing to go call you, i didn't have time to see u. it's a strange back and forth dance going on between tlem. you can see, i think, through it that there is a very cool relationship between the two and that netanyahu would not be very sad to see mitt romney in the white house. >> we just got word actually that they're on the phone as we speak. mitt romney talking to benjamin netanyahu. telanovella. wow, maria, you want to respond
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to that? >> well, here's what i'll say. look, there has been a lot of hooplah around, you know, what has been done, what meetings the president is having, what meetings he isn't having, but i got to tell you, suzanne, from the standpoint of having been in some of these bilateral meetings, the pomp and circumstance that surrounds those kinds of meetings especially at places like the u.n., nothing of substance gets done. i actually prefer that our president is on the phone with prime minister netanyahu today. he was on the phone for an hour last week. he has been on the phone with other leaders from the middle east constantly throughout all of the chaos that is happening. that is much more important from a substantive standpoint than from any sort of perception standpoint of who he met or who he didn't meet, and we also saw the prime minister walk back his criticism. >> we got to leave it there. anna, maria, good to see you both. >> thanks so much. >> it would be great if he were meeting with the ladies of "the view" instead of meeting with
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netanyahu. >> he -- >> that's my personal preference. >> to meet with five powerful women. hey, you know, that may sway some votes. >> we have to take a quick break. [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. are you in good hands? [ voice of dennis ] silence. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. romney: "it's time to stand up to the cheaters" vo: tough on china? not mitt romney. when a flood of chinese tires threatened a thousand american jobs...
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it was president obama who stood up to china and protected american workers. mitt romney attacked obama's decision... said standing up to china was "bad for the nation and our workers." how can mitt romney take on the cheaters... when he's taking their side? with a vial and syringe. me, explaining what i was doing at breakfast. and me discovering novolog mix 70/30 flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your pre-mix insulin. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. no vials, syringes or coolers to carry. flexpen is insulin delivery my way. novolog mix 70/30 is an insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. do not inject if you do not plan to eat within 15 minutes to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. most common side effects
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include reactions at the injection site, weight gain, swelling of your hands and feet, and vision changes. other serious side effects include low blood sugar and low potassium in your blood. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, sweating, or if you feel faint. i would have started flexpen sooner, but i thought it would cost more. turns out it's covered by my insurance plan. thanks to flexpen, vial and syringe are just a memory. ask your doctor about novolog mix 70/30 flexpen, covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. find your co-pay at myflexpen.com. early in the race the pundits said the presidential race would be about the economy. lately foreign policy has also been a priority. now president obama has talked on the phone today with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and we understand that
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mitt romney just spoke with him by phone moments ago. we got -- first up, of course, jen socky, a traveling press secretary for the obama campaign. jen, first of all, there was some criticism -- >> hi. >> hi. good to see you. >> there was criticism, back and forth, about -- one of our laiss said it was a telanovella, this drama between the president and netanyahu over whether or not they should see each other face-to-face, around the united nations meetings, these kinds of things. they have now spoken. does this put this to rest? >> well, suzanne, they also spoke for about an hour about two weeks ago, and they are in consistent contact, as are members of the president's national security team, and seetary hillary clinton. you know, the president is focused on governing, restoring our place in the world, focussing on what needs to be done in these areas, and mitt romney seems to be focused on politicizing inappropriately at many times these global issues. there's a real difference.
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>> how do you respond to some folks who look at this the way this is played out and make the case that the president was kind of drawn in to this kind of political back and forth with netanyahu? was that really an important part of the president coming forward and saying, look, demonstrating to the american people that he is on top of what is going on in israel, they're on the same page? >> our relationship is israel is absolutely important. the president is the first person to say that. heard prime minister netanyahu say a week or so ago he doesn't have any sdar to get involved in american politics. you know, he knows the president is absolutely committed to making sure iran does not acquire a nooublg weapon, and we're sfoex odd that every single day. i don't think there's any -- i think there's been a lot of talk about this, but the reality is this is a focus of the president, this is a focus of his team, and the jewish community in this country knows that. >> was there any sense from the campaign that when we see these
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pictures of the israeli prime minister before all these world leaders with this kind of cartoonish look at this bomb talking about iran that he was raising the stakes here, raising the level of visibility and even the point bringing up the controversy be going forward and being so dramatic. did that help the president at all? >> the president has been absolutely clear that he will not allow iran to get a nuclear weapon and aloptions are on the table. they have a real diplomatic relationship. this is not a political issue to the president. this is something he has been focused on since the first day he took office. time he has died his toe into foreign policy waters has -- it's been an uated disaster, and i think that's what the american people are really looking at. who is prepared to be commander inchief. who has shown leadership in the world? who has delivered on their promises. you know, we'll put the
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president's record up against mitt romney's any day of the week? >> we'll look for that on wednesday. jen, good to see you. we've heard the obama-biden perspective. what is does the romney-ryan team think? >> we have a member of their campaign team who will way in as well. there's a health company that can help you stay that way.
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we just spoke with the top obama campaign aide. republican presidential mitt romney, he had a phone conversation with the prim minister, happened just moments ago. and romney met with netanyahu as recently as july during his trip to israel. the two men are friends. joining us, matt slap, former white house political director in the george w. bush administration. good to see you. respond, first, to the criticism and the accusations here that this is a political stunt here. you have the president who is already talking to yet raw hnet why is romney on the phone with netanyahu? >> i think it is totally appropriate for netanyahu to talk to the opposition government leader here in this country this is something that is standard protocol. quite frankly i think mr. netanyahu knows that his
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relationship with america is incredibly important and i think it is clear he has concerns with the obama administration and how reliable a partner they're going to be on stopping iran from acquiring the material they need to make a nuclear weapon. and i think the relationship is close. it is important. i don't think we're overdra mat sizing what happened today. >> what was the phone call about? can you tell me? do you have a read in on it? >> i don't. it just happened literally moments ago. it could actually still be happening. and i think it would be appropriate for probably much of that conference to stay confidential, but i think the clear thing that governor romney wants to know is what was intended by the speech that mr. netanyahu gave at the united nations the other day and what can he expect coming out of that speech and how the two of them can partner together. look, we all want america to succeed on this. i think the problem that the president obama has is that he's beginning to show some problems
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overseas, they're seeing problems with our relationship with israel. libya is a complete disaster. and it -- >> talk a little bit about netanyahu. i want to stick with netanyahu here. we saw this demonstration, he had the bomb and the cartoon there. i mean, did romney -- did he feel that was appropriate and appropriate way to demonstrate that the danger of iran and where we are? >> look, i think the reason why governor romney and mr. netanyahu have a good relationship is because he believes that israel has to set their policy. and we should not be dictating to mr. netanyahu how serious the problem is in israel with their security, with eiran attempting to do and what they are doing. if he has to draw a cartoon to the world to explain to them how serious this problem is, he ought to do it and keep doing it because there can't be any more serious foreign policy question out there today than this question. >> all right.
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matt, got to leave it there. we're running out of time. i really appreciate your time and we'll bring you back. thanks. we'll take a quick break. the most dependable, longest lasting, full-size pickups on the road. so, what do you think? [ engine revs ] i'll take it. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month. now during chevy truck month, get 0% apr financing for 60 months or trade up to get the 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $8,000. hurry in before they're all gone!
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ally bank. your money needs an ally. before we go, alison kosik at the help desk to help answer your financial questions. she tackles a topic that keeps many of us up at night, saving for retirement. >> here on the help desk, we're talking about saving for your retirement and with me this hour are liz miller and greg mcbride. liz, this is the question for you. >> other than the 401(k), how else can i save for retirement. >> it seems like a good fallback, doesn't it, the 401(k) and most people only invest in their 401(k), don't they? >> they do. but if someone is in a position
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they can put more in their 401(k) allows, there are some other options. in fact, if a couple makes a bit less than $175,000, you can additionally put money into a roth i.r.a. that will grow tax deferred and be tax free at retirement and you can put $5,000 after tax into just a traditional i.r.a., even when you already have a 401(k). >> okay. anything beyond those that she just mentioned? >> i love the i.r.a. too many people think it is an either/or proposition, the fact is you can do both the 401(k) and the i.r.a. and even for higher income households there is a back door money way to get money into the i.r.a. >> great advice. thanks. if you have an issue you want our experts to tackle, upload a 30-second video with your question to ireport.com. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with fredricka whitfield. >> have a great weekend. >> you too. >> all right, thanks so much. hello, everyone. i'm fredricka whitfield in for brooke baldwin. i know you all want to know about what happened today in the
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search for jimmy hoffa. we have some news on that. and you've seen your food bills, your gas prices, all of that go up. but what is up with the water bill these days? in some places charges have tripled. we have got all that and more. but first, to politics. mitt romney is venturing out of the swing states today. romney this hour is trying to pluck pennsylvania from the grasp of president obama with just 39 days until the election. pennsylvania's one of the states that is leaning toward obama, but not -- so, jim, we have been seeing romney confine his campaign to the nine swing states, why is he taking a shot at a state that has been leaning obama? >> reporter: yeah, fredricka, it did catch a lot of people off guard today to hear mitt romney not only at a fund-raiser earlier this morning but at an
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event that wrapped up here at a valley forge military academy. he said he'll win the state of pennsylvania and this state has not traditionally in the last several months been lumped in with the other swing states out there that both president obama and mitt romney are neck and neck in. we have seen a lot of swing states in recent days moving away from mitt romney. you saw the latest battleground polls in ohio and florida where president obama increased his lead over mitt romney, but just a few moments ago here at this military academy, romney said very confidently that he's going to win this state. here's what he had to say. >> i've got a little secret here. that is that obama campaign thinks that pennsylvania is in their pocket. they don't need to worry about it. and you're right and they're wrong. we're going to win pennsylvania. we're going to take the white house. >> reporter: now, just to get away from some of the horse race news going on today, one of the
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other things that mitt romney talked about at this event was he went back to this line of attack on president obama, referring back to the president's comments to "60 minute minutes" when he described activities in the middle east as bum npz tps in the road. he talked about the nuclear situation in iran, worries about iran developing a nuclear weapon as a bump in the road. and, fredricka, that was a clear signal that mitt romney is, you know, courting jewish american voters who are concerned about israeli security and just a few moments ago we can report our rachel streitfeld, political producer, is very close to mitt romney right now as part of the press pool, and she said that the romney campaign has confirmed that mitt romney just wrapped up a phone call with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, done while romney was sitting on the tarmac at a
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philadelphia airport this comes after the president had his own phone call with prime minister netanyahu and all of this follows that very dramatic performance at the united nations yesterday when we saw the prime minister drawing that red line on that cartoon sketch, if you will, of a bomb symbolizing an iranian nuclear weapon. so not only se horse race news out here, but also mitt romney going after the president on national security. >> and, jim, do you know between the obama/netanyahu phone call, who called whom? >> reporter: i don't know. i don't know the answer to that, fredricka. i don't have that information as to who called who there. we know the white house released a photograph or is about to release a photograph of the president on the phone with prime minister netanyahu. we're working to get some of that same kind of photograph of mitt romney. all we have at this point is some video of mitt romney on the tarmac talking to the israeli prime minister, but it just goes to show you, you know, how
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critically important this issue is of israeli security to a lot of voters in this country. down in boca raton, florida, earlier this afternoon vice president joe biden was talking to a crowd down there. and he said to that crowd, he said he wasn't planning on talking about israel today, but he said president obama has been a stronger ally of israel's than any other president he served with in eight years. that in the words of the vice president. so that is also a big out on the campaign trail today, both sides trying to show who would be the bigger ally of israel at this point. >> all right, fascinating thanks so much, jim acosta. appreciate that. and don't forget, you want to catch that first presidential debate, denver, colorado, romney versus obama. that's next wednesday, 8:00 p.m. eastern time he on c. theh dayof the united natis general assembly and a side group is taking on auably the bloodiest and most brutal problem in the world today. syria.
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the conf there has reportedlyed more than 30,000 people since march of last yea more than twthirdsre civilians. this is youtube video out of aleppo, the city of aleppo. today, the german foreign minister made a plea before the assembly. >> translator: such suffering is speechless. bulsoimpells us to act. to this very day the security council hasailed to live up to its responsibility for peop in ria. >> germany is part of a special u.n. athis ur. knn as the friends of syria. u.s. sec also ere with about 20 other world leaders. let's turnto cnn's senior united nations correspondent richard roth. before we get to syria, i want get the ltest onhat phone call involving israeli prime
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minister benjamin etanyahu. yesterday, he urgethat a red úp the nuclear progme given to in iran. we havlearned that he and now the answer whom oken. called whom? >> no, but it waslrea arraed so i don't think it is really that significant i mean, yesterday netanyahu was talking about lines, today it is a phone ine. and statemt released by the white house following this phe call that you aeseeing, they said the two leaders discusseanecury and the preside reaffirmed his and our count unshakable commitment to isrl security. the two leaders said they were in full agreement about preventing iran frombt a nuclr weapon. of course, yesterday, netanyahu ed a crude map drawing to indicate the fuse that has been tha iran iswork g l nuclear towards that the israeli leader thinks is potential on the brink ofeing ready n summer. fredricka? >> now, let's talk about this
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solesyria. the group involved here, who constitutes that group and what are they hoping to accomplish? >> whether it is bosnia crisis or other issues, there is a core group that is usual established, mostly western nations. this one, the friends of syria. the goal of this session, following up on a meeting in tunis and elsewhere in the yeerks giyear, give more money, give more assistance, how are they ready for the day when there is some sort of transition. so the u.s. committing 45 u.s. million dollars in additional aid, mostly humanitarian in aid to the opposition in syria. this brings the u.s. total to $130 million. they can do all the talking they want. they know they don't have a hard core plan agreement on how do you force political transition in syria where 30,000 some have been killed. >> now, let's talk about palestinian leader mahmoud abbas. yesterday asking for an upgrade
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to palestine's status. what exactly is meant by that? >> well, abbas said that the palestinians are still ready to talk as we know. the negotiations have disappeared from the table at the moment. and they remain frustrated and angry and they are hoping to use the u.n.'s system to try to put pressure on israel and the united states. they are saying that we want to be as close to a u.n. member independent state as possible. and that means an upgrade to an observer nonmember status. potentially more inclusion in u.n. organizations including criminal court systems, areas where they could potentially sue against israel, so to speak, on issues such as occupy territories and what they call terrorist acts against the palestinians. >> all right, richard roth at the u.n., thanks so much. we have a lot more to cover in the next two hours including a michigan driveway, a theory, a legendary mystery about a
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notorious crime figure. do we know yet what happened to jimmy hoffa? and here we go again, l.a. drivers are bracing for carmageddon part two, opening soon near hollywood. hey, i love your cereal there -- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way, right? lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.
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a business owner and a u.p.s. driver are among four people killed by a gunman who opened fire yesterday at a sign coany in a quiet minneapolis neighborhood. the gunman wounded four more people before killing himself. he's identified as a former employee of the shop. >> one that was doing the shooting was a quiet, kept to himself kind of guy, kind of odd. >> police are not commenting on a motive. the co-workers tell kare the man was fired just hours before that shooting. in florida, a veteran high schoolteacher is arrested in his classroom, charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill anotherteacher.police say james friend and asked him to kill his former co-worker. the man called police who then set up a sting operation, which led to peppy's arrest. he allegedly offered $2,000 for the hit. >> there was some rumors going around about him, and he
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attributed those rumors to our victim in this case. he in his mind attributed his problems to the victim in case, and he felt the only way to solve that issue was to kill him. >> pe is charged with solicitation of first degree rder. has been teaching for 28 years. 50 students were taken to hospits after a schoobus collided with a thi rs morning in louisville, kentucky. the bus rolled over on iide ter it collided with car, carrying three high school students there were 47 le schoo studentsthe bus. none of e injuries are considered life threatening. it has been 37 years since former teamsters union leader mmoffa disappeared. well, today, the decades long search for his remains led to the driveway of a house in suburban detroit. cnn's susan candiotti is outside the shed where police did a little digging today. >> reporter: another chapter in one of america's longest running
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mysteries, what happened to the remains of jimmy hoffa? well, today here in roseville, michigan, police took about an hour tocarefully remove soil samples from bee beneath a shed in a driveway at aouse where back in 1975a tipster now says that he thinks that he saw could have been a bodyuried inside that shed in the ground so polook toil samps, dug about six feet under to move them, and thos soi samples will be alyzed. eye skeptical about this informatioand sos the police chief here. he says, hey, we have to check this out. >> i d't think it is mr. hoffa. it would be great if it was, to bring closure to his family and the teamsters that idolized this man. this is like an open wound that won't go away. >> there has been a lot of earth moved looking for the remains of jimmy hoffa, all negative so far. >> two samples were removed from
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the ground. and police say they look kind of murky because of all of the ground water, but those samples are now going to a lab at michigan state university. and they expect to know sometime monday whether there are human remains buried beneath that driveway. if therear then there will be a larger excavation. of course, they had tips like this before that have not panned out. now the question is, will police crack this case or will it remain an unsolved mystery? susan candiotti, cnn, roseville, michigan. >> thanks so much, susan. keep us posted on that. we're learning more today about how the investigation into the colorado theater shooting is unfolding. new documents released a few hours ago detail how police in aurora, colorado, handled the notebook that suspect james holmes mailed to a psychiatrist days before the shooting. according to the documents, police first x-rayed the picture containing the notebook, a bomb squad technician wearing a
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special suit removed the notebook from the wrapping, the documents have been heavily redacted but state an aurora detective fanned through the notebook before it was turned over to evidence and sealed. also in the documents, holmes had threatened his psychiatrist and those threats were reported to university of colorado police before the shooting. holmes is accused of opening fire during that midnight screening of the new "batman" movie on july 20th in aurora. 12 people were killed. another 58 were wounded. straight a, for drivers in los angeles. this weekend, carmageddon 2. the sequel. a major freeway stretch in l.a. closing again. the big question, will drivers stay home like they did the last time? the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue,
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the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. romney: "it's time to stand up with to the cheaters"ter... vo: tough on china? not mitt romney. when a flood of chinese tires threatened a thousand american jobs... it was president obama who stood up to china and protected aman worrs. mitt romney attacked obama's decision... said standing up to china was "bad for the nation and our workers." how can mitt romney take on the cheaters... when he's taking their side?
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anyone who commutes knows the headaches of traffic tie-ups. last year, when los angeles decided to add a car pool lane to a much used freeway and announced a ten-mile stretch of the freeway would be closed over a weekend t weekend was bbeddu carmageddon. that was before the freeway
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actually was shut down. the ne,t is, because when it did shut down, well, look at the video, nothing really ppen. notie-up in otherords, no carmageddon. but thisd, as approaches, l.a. drivers are being warned once again of a highway of doom. will they listen? will it happen? let's bring in cnn's casey wian. all right, so this time around, how is it different? this is the 405 this time, right? >> reporter: that's right, fredricka. samefreeway, ov my left ouou clder y see the 405 freeway. it is according to los angeles transportation officials the busiest freeway in the united states. over a typical weekend, a half a million cars will pass through this relatively narrow pass leading from the san fernando valley to los angeles. in the distance you can see a bridge and this side of that bridge will be demolished over the weekend and rebuilt over the next 12 months. the south side of the bridge was demolished last time.
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that's going to close this freeway from 7:00 local time tonight until it's hoped 5:00 a.m. monday morning. what happened last year as you mentioned is people stayed away from this area and there weren't any traffic problems. also, the construction process went a lot faster than they anticipated. so the freeway was actually able to reopen early, and there were no problems. what officials are worried about this time is that people are going to be complacent because of last year's experience. they also say that they have about 30% more work to get done this time, so they may not get it done as early as they did. now, california transportation officials have had lighted signs throughout southern california as far as 50 miles away on freeways that don't even directly connect to the 405, warning people to stay away, warning people not to drive in this area because there is really no other way to get through here. we're going to have to see if
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they heed those warnings over the weekend. >> what is the time frame? >> time frame, 7:00 tonight, local time. the sort of end of the friday commute until 5:00 a.m. monday morning. they have got to get -- they have a ten-mile stretch of the freeway shut down so people have to stay away during that stretch. >> all right, once again, it might provoke a few staycations, people stay in their familiar territory, their neighborhoods. casey wian, thanks so much. turning back to politics now, just 39 days before the presidential election. both candidates trying to convince voters they're the best choice for the job. so why is one campaign lowering expectations on how their guy will do in first presidential debate next week? i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up.
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he's the one that stirred a tempest by calling what he called legitimate rape cannot lead to pregnancy. one month later, top republicans are divided about whether to back akin or write off hopes for winning that missouri seat. cnn political editor paul steinhauser with us from washington. where is this going? >> this is a really interesting story. at one time, fred, this was a seat the republicans thought they could win back and, you know, hopefully winning back missouri would mean winning back control of the senate. the question now is with akin staying in there, six-term congressman from missouri, will national republicans, they're backing him but will they give him any money? here is what the senator of texas, the chairman of the national republican senatorial committee said, we have no plans, he said, to support akin. he was talking about financially. i just think this is not a winnable race. fred, i was talking to some republican sources and they were
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saying, listen, we're not backing claire mccaskill, we would love it if akin won, but they think they have a certain amount of money to spend, they think it is better spent in other races where they think they can win back the seat. mccaskill is picking up and getting more aggressive against akin. listen to her new tv commercial playing in missouri. >> on august 19th, todd akin said, only some rapes are legitimate. what will he say next? >> i'm claire mccaskill. i approve this message. >> for a month, claire mccaskill did not say anything about the comments. now you can see, it is in one of her new tv ads. >> this seat is really pivotal. it could potentially make the difference between who controls the senate or not, right? >> exactly th. this is such a good story. we're always talking about the race for the white house, but the battle for the senate is crucial as well. let's look at the big picture. where did dooes it stand now?
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look at the bottom there, the democrats are defending 23 of the 33 seats up for grabs. look at the top races i'm keeping my eyes on. montana, democratic senator facing a very tough re-election. wisconsin, democratic seat that is open. virginia, another similar story. democratic seat that is open. and massachusetts, this is interesting, this is where republican senator scott brown is fighting for re-election, a tough fight there, democrats hope they can win one back, fred. >> paul steinhauser, good to see you. thanks so much from washington. >> thank you. all right, as world leaders gather in new york, trying to figure out how to end syria's civil war, the numbers coming out of the country show the crisis is getting far worse. youtube video showing just how risky walking in syria's biggest sy of aleppo it be. 122 people have been killed so
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far today. the death toll since march, 2011, 30,000. that figure from a syrian human rights group. and now the united nations is releasing this figure. 700,000. that's the number of refugees predicted to flow into other countries. the u.n.'s refugee agency is asking for more than $480 million in aid. as ts is happing, u.s. defense secretary leon panetta said today that u.s. intelligence has detected syria moving chemical weapons at some sites for security reasons. a detail that could influence a decision about u.s. military intervention in syria. remember, this is what president obama said about chemical weapons in syria just last month. >> a red line for us is we start saying a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. that would change my calculus. that would change my equation. >> secretaryasaid it is believed the chemical weapons
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remain secured by the syrian military. a plane carrying tourists crashed today after colliding with an eagle on takeoff. all 19 people on board were killed. the plane was headed to a staging point where mount everest expeditions, it crashed and burst into flames just minutes after leaving kathmandu's airport. among the victimsbrish tourists hike nr mount everest. man beli behind that anti-muslim film that led to violence in the muslim world being hel without ban a california jail now. new sketches show nakoula basseley nakoula in court yesterday. he's charged with probation for bk fraud conviction two years ago. prosecutors argued nakoula is a flight risk. but his lawyer claimedhe sho nogo to jail for safety reasons, claiming there are a lot of muslims in l.a. jails and nakoula would be a target, they
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argue. up next, several major u.s. banks are the targets of a massive cyberattack. and security experts are calling it one of the biggest attacks they have ever seen. plus, apple's mea culpa. the tech giant apologizes for the new maps application which caused an uproar and a lot of frustration among the users out there. what the ceo had to say next. the pace of change is accelerating. the way we...
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all right, your bank's online defense system may have been outgunned by cyberattackers this week. major banks like chase, bank of america, wells fargo, all victims of denial of service attacks. yesterday, pnc online banking was also hit. it locked customers out of their personal information online. security experts say it is the biggest cyberattack they have ever seen. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. alison, a lot of banks involved
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there. how did this happen? >> well, first of all, i want to point out no customer information was hacked into. there was no money taken. what instead happened here was more of these denial of service attacks. what these essentially do, they make it really difficult to get on to these banks' websites. there is no actual hacking going on. so no data was stolen and the banks' actual transaction networks were not affected. but these attacks can be annoying if you want to get on your bank's website and check your balance or pay your bills. it slows them down and many customers couldn't access them at all. >> do we know who is behind these attacks? >> we don't. and investigators are trying to track down who is responsible. one islamist group claimed responsibility but too soon to say whether they really did this. these attacks suggest there is a lot of preplanning involved, months in fact, which is very different from what we have seen in the past. bank of america, jpmorgan chase, wells fargo, u.s. bank, and pnc bank, they all got hit one right after the next.
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>> my goodness. what does it say about the vulnerability of these very big banks? >> well, you know, it is interesting because it is the banks that typically have some of the best defenses against cyberattacks because they get hit so frequently. this time, you know they just were outgunned. one web security firm says the volume of traffic sent to disrupt the bank's website was unprecedented twice the previous record for denial of service attack. what this suggests is that the cybercriminals, they may be getting a little more sophisticated. >> let's shift gears now, talk about apple, whole lot of people are very upset with apple and those new map apps, but now there is an apology coming from the ceo. in what form? >> so he wrote an open letter, tim cook did, he wrote an open letter to customers saying he's sorry about apple's new maps application, the one that replaced google maps. customers have been really frustrated with how it is working or not working. in the latest version of its mobile operating system, you know, the one on the iphone and that many older users end up
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upgrading to. the company fell short on its commitment to make world class products. he goes on to write we're extremely sorry for the frustration this caused our customers and we're doing everything we can to make it better. now, apple says the more people use the app, the better it will get. meantime, while apple is trying to make the tweaks, what he is suggesting is that you can download other map applications like map quest, and, yes, even google maps which apple maps replaced. the biggest rival, which is really ironic. >> that's funny stuff. thanks so much. alison kosik, appreciate that. cnn heroes every day people doing extraordinary things like rosna john. see how she's educating young girls in the war torn region of afghanistan next. 360. well we brought back layaway, so you can pay a little bit at a time. my kids would be like [tearfully] this is the best day ever! [ sobbing ] [ male announcer ] layaway's back. shop now and have more time to pay. walmart.
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[ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean. with tide pods. just one removes more stains than the 6 next leading pacs combined pop in. stand out. in afghanistan, women typically don't have much of a place in society. and islamic extremists often use violence to keep girls from getting an education. one woman is braving all of that to educate girls at a free school near kabul. and she is this week's cnn hero.
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>> in afghanistan, most of the girls have no voice. they are used as property of a family. the picture is very grim. my name is razia jan. and i'm the founder of a girl's school in fghani. >> razia jan believes so much in her cause, she returned to afghanistan after living in the u.s. for 38 years. she joins us now by phone from kabul. congratulations being the top ten heroes. when you opened up the school in 2008, most of the girls couldn't even write their name. what has happened in the last four years? >> it is really a great pleasure first of all and honor to be one of the heroes among the really elite people. and my work is when we started
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this school, you mentioned that the girls couldn't write their name and none of them had opportunity, i think, ever, to go to a school in their villag villages. and when i built the school in 2008, they really couldn't write their name. and now this is the fifth year. and the girls, i mean, it is amazing. and it is such a joy to see them that they can read, they can write, and they're working on their future. and they have -- they are learning really three languages, which is pashtun and eng, whic is really it would help them as they grow older and my dream is for them to continue theirucation and continue giving them the best education
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that is possible under the circumstances. and to keep them safe, really. that's my goal. >> and it hasn't been easy for them, it hasn't been easy for you. give me an idea what some of the obstacles, the roadblocks, what have the been? >> well, you know, it is just -- it is, you know, as i said before and i am repeating is that, you know, a woman real really -- they don't have any rights and they are not only, you know, dominated by their father, but then the brother and uncle and grandfather. so it is not one person, you ow, giving them permission to go toool, butuo have t go through, you know, a lot obacles bring them to
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school. and the thinking of men there in the villages were that, you know, the men should -- the boys should have education, not the girls. the place of girls are at home a and shouldn't come to school. it was a great struggle and uphill battle actually in the beginning to allow their children, girls to come to school and give them an opportunity. and when i started the school, we started with 108 students. and none of them really knew how to write their name or anything. but now we have about 300, close to 350 girls that come to school and every year, at least 60, 70 girls that i can really manage
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to increase. in kindergarten i have the girls. my goal is to really make it possible for these girls to get educate educated and help them, to get the very basic rights and when to say no and how to -- the commy to really treat them and -- >> it looks like you're doing -- it looks like you're doing exactly that. razia jan, thanks so much and, again, congratulations fo king it to the top ten cnn heroes. the top ten have been revealed for 20. and you can now vote for the choice that you would like to become the hero of the year. go to cnnheroes.com. this is one time when you can vote early and vote often.
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water rates across the nation are on the rise. we'll show you the cities that are paying the most. and find out what's behind that skyrocketing water bill so many are facing. hey, i love your cereal there --
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your water bill may be soaking up more and more of your hard earned money. pouring yourself a glass of water from your home faucet could be pricey. water rates were tracked for 12 years. in atlanta, rates jumped 233%. let's bring in the study's author, kevin mccoy. what is the deal? why is this happening? hi, fredricka.anksor having me. there is a lot of reasons for it. one is that there is infrastructure cos for water, utilities and water -- municipality water agencies around the country where they have to upgrade their pipes, eir reservoirs, treatment systems. at adds a lot of debt to the system and that gets passed on to the people who are getting e water.
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there is also things likera security, ty have to around water plants and the terror attacks of september 11t,2001, that's a big issue. you've got higher costs for electricity chicalsor you' g f er. e peth rk in the systems thativer the water. that all adds up. ost of reasons. so now where are we seeing cities being in theat analysis that we had. one of them is atlanta, where you are, that has gone up, as you said, over 200%. that's a big deal ere it is part of it is the infrastructure costs that has is also a big issue in san franci whichs one of the other ples that w a very ju jump. they're in the midz st of a five-year plan where they're putting in new pipes and what not. it is much more difficult there because their system stretches many many miles around the bay
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area. and crosses a number of seismic faults. so to make that system, you know, able to withstand earts, ihquakeis a lot of work. d it is expense. >> okay. wilmington, north carolina, philadelphia, portland, oregon, also on the ist. is there anything at can be done to try to lower these sing rates? >> well, youan try -- you can try to save water byutting ck little bit. but you may end up hurting yourself, actually. what happens is if you cut back, ede water agencies have budget a certain amount of income that they expect to get. le income.ess water, they get as a result, the rates go a little bit higher. >> oh, my goodness. oh, gosh. all right. catch-22 all the way around. kevin mccoy, thanks so much. appreciate that. >> thank you. all right, just days before his scheduled execution, a pennsylvania man is off death row for now. we're on the case as a convicted killer gets word his death sentence will be reconsidered.
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plus, paying football players for big hits. we're not talking about professional football. this case involves children. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day
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imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you nusuha u changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressas can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta.
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imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. just five days until his execution and a pennsylvania man is off death row for now. a judge in philadelphia ruled today that terrence williams, a convicted killer, will get a new sentencing phase to his trial to see what punishment he should receive for beating a man with a tire iron when he was a teenager. whtheechance? because when received the death penalty back in 1986, jurors never knew the murder victim allegedly sexually abused him. cnn's jason carol has been covering the hearing. so, jason, the judge in her ruling had very strong words for the prosecutors. >> no question about that. this is a real blow for the prosecution.
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and common appeals court judge theresa samina did not mince words. she said the prosecutor on the original case, andrea folks, took measures to win, suppressed evidence, and presented jurors an incplete and misleading portrayal of the victim. the victim was 56-year-old amos norwood, a jury found terrence williams guilty of brutally murdering him. prosecutors called the case back then a case of robbery. williamsne the was a lot more to it. they say norwood had been sexually abusing williams and other teenage boys and they say foulkes knew about the allegations an suppressed evidence back in 1986. listen to what foulkes had to say about thahen iaught up with heruslast week. i didn't suppress evidence at l,ve, and i w never sussevidence. >> well, within the past hour, the phadelph distric rn held pre conference cally making the villain out
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to be the victim. he also said if wliams was a victim of abuse, he had the r say something about it during the trl, and he didn't. theell deserved death sentence imposed by a jury on a vicious double mrderer has been justlyoverturned by philadelphia judge 28 years afr th crimes. and i have directed my assistants to file an immediate appeal with the pennsylvania supreme court. day there was a reasonable urt prability the original verdict outcome could have been different hahe evidence not been suppressed. she orded not only a stay of execution, fredricka, but a new penay phase, that means both sides will now reargue the case in front of a jury, wch will then set a new senten, but as you heard right there, the phiaistrict attorney plans to appeal the judge's decision. >> itienough, jason, the orinalnot have a
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scintilla ofvithat noood was abusing williams. clearly the judge did not find her credible? is that what's at issue? >> clearly, yeah, absolutely, fredricka, she did not. you are absolutely right when andrea foulkes took the stand, she said that had she found something to help her move her in that direction, she would have. and she would have turned that evidence over. but then the judge pointed out, she took out notes. these were notes from years ago, they were foulkes' own notes which clearly showed she did have evidence suggesting that williams was involved in this inappropriate relationship with amos norwood and not only that, fredricka, but another woman had come forward and said that norwood had sexually abused her son as well. that information not turned over to the defense during that time. >> fascinating case. jason carol, thanks so much. all right, top of the hour now. i'm fredricka whitfield in for
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brooke baldwin. phone calls are going out today to israeli's prime minister after his call to action at the u.n. and yes there is also news in the search for jimmy hoffa. first, mitt romney is venturing out of the swing states today. romney is in pennlvania trying to pluck that state from the grasp of president barack obama. 39 days until the election. pennsylvania is one of the states that is leaning toward the president, but romney is predicting an upset. >> i've got a little secret here, that is that obama campaign thinks that pennsylvanias in their they don't need to worry about it. and you're right and they're wrong. we're going to win pennsylvania, we're going to take the white house. >> well, wolf blitzer with us now. so, you know, from washington, wolf, we have seen romney confine his campaign to the nine battleground states. why is he now taking a shot at this state, pennsylvania, which clearly seems to be leaning obama? >> according to